I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s been two years since I started a small business, and there have been a lot of lessons learned. And I have to be honest–I didn’t even realize this fact until LinkedIn sent me a notification.
I can’t even begin to count the lessons learned over the past 24+ months. I knew I loved the strategy behind communications and public relations. And I knew that I wanted to create something that I could be proud of and that clients could benefit from to drive their businesses forward.
During that time, I met new colleagues, reconnected with former colleagues, established new relationships, developed new friendships, and forged some great business partnerships. I found some amazingly talented people that I can rely on, and have still struggled to maintain the mysterious work/life balance.
I’ve learned about the sales process, which I’m still not great at, about negotiating with clients and contractors, about forecasting your year, and managing budgets (well, I’ve don’t a lot of that in the past, but never like this).
I have loved the crisis work that I’ve done throughout my career. However strange it may be, I love the adrenaline rush of figuring out the most strategic approach of managing a chaotic situation to find the best outcome. Let’s face it, most communications campaigns have the same approach, just not everything is a crisis. But that added adrenaline turns everything upside down (in a great way).
I have done a lot of crisis work in my life to protect reputations, brands, and people. I’ve been a part of international crisis and reputational campaign work, but I was not prepared for what this journey had in store for me. And I’ve never had my business on the line when doing the work I love.
I didn’t know that I would start a business less than a year before a global pandemic would halt most of our industry and put many of my colleagues, former coworkers, and friends out of work, or at a minimum threaten their careers or businesses.
It also brought my business, like so many others, to a grinding halt. Luckily, my crisis skills kicked in, I knew what I needed to do for my business, and I’m in a much better place than a year ago, at least for now.
I started to think back over the last couple of years about some of the key things I’ve learned that have helped me succeed, and in addition to a HUGE “thank you” to everyone who has helped me, I wanted to share some of those lessons learned with you.
I know it sounds like a cliché (and it probably is), but it’s also very true. Starting a small business is a really scary thing, and no matter how much expertise you have in your field, you will come to the point that you’re officially in over your head.
Let’s face it, unless you’ve started a small business, you can plan all you want to but you just don’t know what it’s like until you’re there. This is why expertise in any field is important…you have to have “been there and done that” as the boomers like to say.
I found a small group of people, along with a couple of key advisors, that I could consistently rely on for advice, or just as a sounding board. I didn’t want to go to them with everything, but I knew I could count on them if I was stuck, or just scared to move forward on something.
You need to find people you trust to give you good, objective advice and counsel, or just simply listen to you ramble on about your problems and then offer up solutions. Whatever fits for your style, do it, but make sure you have your trusted allies along with you on this journey.
I know, I know…another cliché. But I’m a big believer in being humble. I say that everyone needs to cope with the fact that they don’t know everything. In reality, the chances are that you know a lot less than you’d like to admit.
This is true in life, too, but we’ll stick to my lessons learned and not get into philosophical debates about the world around us (at least not right now).
I’ve been so trained over the course of my career to have or find the answers, that it’s not easy for me to admit that I just don’t have the answers sometimes. Or to admit that I’m not sure where to find the answers.
If you can let down your guard, which can be REALLY difficult sometimes, and just admit that you don’t know everything, a world of opportunity opens up around you. You then have the courage to ask others for help, which you probably need. Or you’re open to looking to your advisors for counsel on your business.
The most successful business owners in the world have mentors. Even Warren Buffet has a mentor! We all need them, which means we all need to admit that we don’t always have the answers.
I’ve heard a million times, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist.” Well, my friend, that likely means you are both, but I digress.
For me, I’ve always been a bit of an optimist and see the bright side of things. I realize that may be hard to believe for someone who has done so much crisis work, but it’s true. Let’s face it, crisis and issues people always see a bright side, because we’re always looking for a way to win!
When I first started this business, I was very much an idealist. I knew who I wanted to work with, what industries I was really interested in, how I wanted my days to be, and so much more. I won’t say the dream crumbled, but the idealism quickly turned in to realism.
And it all comes down to setting the right expectations. I know that’s really easy to say after you’ve been doing it a while, but everyone has the power to set the right expectations for themselves.
For me, it’s about finding that right mix of idealism and realism. This doesn’t mean that your default should be on realism. Yes, you want to set expectations, but you don’t want to lower expectations just so you meet them.
Keep your goals front and center, and know what you’re trying to achieve, but keep pushing for more. I mean, we all want more, right? More clients, more time, more money, more contacts. Just more.
It should go without saying at this point, given the first couple of points I’ve made, but if you don’t know everything and you need to rely on your allies, then you need to keep learning and get help when you can.
Throughout my career, the learning part sort of came naturally. There were always conferences to attend (that my company paid for), and colleagues you were engaging with, and industry organizations you belonged to.
When you’re on your own, those don’t really exist, at least not like they used to. And now that we’ve been through more than a year of a global pandemic, all of that has changed anyway. That means you need to find the opportunities to learn that really help you drive your business forward.
I officially started this business in March 2019 and just four months later moved from Tampa to the Chicago area. And shortly after that we were all hit with the COVID19 pandemic. It was not an ideal situation to start a communications business, to say the least.
On the recommendation of a friend, one of the first things I did was reach out to an agency that specializes in helping public relations practitioners succeed. The Spin Sucks team provided an amazing amount of direction, advice, and counsel that kept me moving in the right direction. Plus, Gini Dietrich is a great sounding board, as long as you’re quick enough to handle her sarcastic comments!
But, I found a way to not only keep learning about my industry (of course I have other resources as well), but I was able to keep learning about running a successful communications business. Don’t be afraid to invest in making sure you succeed.
Ok, final cliché of the post, but you’ve made it this far, so I’ll continue.
If you take nothing else away from this, please force yourself to be adaptable. And realize that this applies to everything you do in your career and business (if you’re running one). The clients you’re going after. How you run your campaigns. Your patience with contractors.
Everything, and I mean everything requires you to adapt.
I’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing clients, and on some absolutely awesome projects over the past couple of years. The way I’ve structured my clients, how I’ve handled the projects…almost nothing has gone exactly to plan. But they’ve all gone well and I’ve learned a lot from each of them.
And each time I work on another project, I have to adapt again to a new situation, a new environment, a new way of pitching media, a new way of delivering messaging. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can imitate all you want to, but if you keep copying how you’ve done thing and fail to evolve, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Adapt, evolve and make sure that you’re looking to the future while learning what you can from everything you’re working on now.
I hope these lessons learned help you as much as they’ve helped me, but let me know if there are others that need to be called out!
I’ve also been discussing how you can find success following the Coronavirus crisis through the RADD approach, which is Recognize, Adapt, Develop, and Deploy. Check out our previous posts to see how you can succeed with the RADD process:
– Get RADD And Plan For Success Following Coronavirus Crisis
– Prepare for Success and Get RADD, Part 1: Recognize
– Finding Success By Getting RADD, Part 2: Adapt
– Get RADD, Part 3: Develop Plans For Success
– Deploying Your RADD Communications Plan
Here are some recent posts to help as you create your Strategic Communications campaigns:
– Tips For Managing Unethical Communications Requests
– Internal Communications During A Crisis
– A Meaningful Message, Or Pandering Without Purpose
– Pitching Media Like The Pros
– Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of Effective
– Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat.
– How to Create Content That Engages Audiences and Builds Brand Trust Quickly
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